


treasure this

by agletbaby



Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: M/M, Tutoring as a Plot Device, canonverse
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-03-06
Updated: 2016-03-06
Packaged: 2018-05-25 02:02:13
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,063
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6175960
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/agletbaby/pseuds/agletbaby
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Five things which Ennoshita gives to Akaashi.</p>
            </blockquote>





	treasure this

**Author's Note:**

> this is my rarepair exchange gift for [janet](irishbandlover23.tumblr.com)!! you asked for tutoring, and there's a little cheering up too. i really enjoyed writing this, something a little sweet, and i hope you enjoy reading it!!
> 
> so many thanks to [megan](https://archiveofourown.org/users/museicalitea) for beta-ing
> 
> title from 'i am offering this poem' by jimmy santiago baca

_his email_  
  
Akaashi goes with Bokuto to see Karasuno off - his captain is intent on saying goodbye to what he (and no one else) has termed his “prodigies”. This he does so with huge, sweeping arm movements, which Akaashi manages to dodge for as long as it takes to wish Tsukishima luck. After that, he retreats, content to wave goodbye from a safe distance.  
  
He’s standing alone, a little apart from the group when Ennoshita approaches him. It takes a moment for Akaashi to place him (Karasuno, wing spiker, second year), and another to remember his name. Ennoshita has played in a few sets against them, and they’ve eaten with the same group at a couple of dinnertimes. One in particular, he remembers as Ennoshita greets him with a polite smile, had involved a discussion of schoolwork. This is memorable, a training camp first, because normally the conversation is very much court-centred. At the time, he remembers wondering if the topic was due to Ennoshita’s influence - he’d been the only person new to the group at the time, the independent variable.  
  
He’s glad he remembers that meal, because the first thing Ennoshita asks is whether he does or not. His smile widens into something genuine when Akaashi gives him an affirmative.  
  
“We were doing some of the same books for Japanese literature,” Ennoshita says then.  
  
Akaashi nods. They were.  
  
“So, I was wondering if it’d be helpful if we swapped contact details - we could discuss the books? And maybe some of our other subjects overlap.”  
  
During their previous interactions, Ennoshita had spoken with quiet confidence, but now there’s a slight insecurity about him; he’s talking in some middle place between statement and question.  
  
“That sounds sensible.” Akaashi tells him, because it does. Ennoshita’s smile widens again. He looks relieved. “Sure.”  
  
Ennoshita produces a small notebook then, and a pen, and writes down his email before letting Akaashi do the same. They swap pieces of paper - Ennoshita’s fingers brush Akaashi’s palm as they do so, and they’re surprisingly cool in the hot summer air - and separate.

-

 _tutoring_  
  
They don’t email much at first - volleyball has to be the focus for Akaashi, and Ennoshita is either understanding, or else having to suffer through the same kind of practices he has to. By the time they finally end, long after dark, he’s exhausted. He pulls himself through his school work, doing the bare minimum, with no wish to think about it anymore than he has to. So he emails Ennoshita every couple of weeks, mostly on Sundays, and mentions what he’s been doing in class, and that’s all.  
  
Once the volleyball season is over, though, and exams are approaching - or rather, they’ve already approached and Akaashi, ever stringent in his preparations, is thrown by how soon they are - his communication with Ennoshita increases exponentially.  
  
It transpires that a lot of their classes do cover the same things, and it’s useful to speak to someone who, firstly, knows easier methods for solving equations, but can also explain things without the rising panic that seems to be infecting the voices of many of Akaashi’s classmates. Initially, Akaashi puts down the lack of evident worry down to the fact they’re emailing, and so he can’t detect tone, but even once they start videocalling, Ennoshita maintains an air of calmness - the most stressed he becomes is when he talks about a couple of other members of the Karasuno volleyball team, who keep pestering him for help with revision.  
  
Akaashi is also not prone to worry. He revises efficiently, and he’d probably still manage to pass with a minimum amount of work. As it is, he now puts in the maximum, and so has no reason to fear.  
  
He knows this, and yet. A week before the exams begin, however, he finds himself anxious, unable to remember any of the key dates of the Meiji period, not even the beginning or end. He paces his room, gets something to eat, looks at his notes, watches the clock hands inch on and doesn’t feel any better. Eventually, he powers up his laptop, seeking something else to do, and it’s really chance that he sees that Ennoshita’s online.  
  
Usually they decide in advance if they’re going to videocall, and Ennoshita always calls Akaashi first. It’s just the habit they’ve fallen into, and there’s no reason to not make contact, if they’re both at the laptop. Still, it’s odd for Akaashi to call him like this, and even stranger that it feels so natural.  
  
Ennoshita picks up almost immediately.  
  
“Um,” says Akaashi, suddenly unsure what he wants. Ennoshita looks confused by this opening - Akaashi can’t imagine what he thought he was going to say, but apparently something was expected. “Hi.”  
  
“Hey,” says Ennoshita back, smiling lightly.  
  
It’s easier after that.  
  
Ennoshita talks him through the various intrigues that occurred between 1868 and 1912, and Akaashi knows what he’s referencing, can follow along, can breathe easier. Afterwards, Ennoshita explains the maths problem he was solving - “well, trying to” - when Akaashi called him, and Akaashi is the one to work out what he needs to do next. They come up with the answer at the same time.  
  
Ennoshita signs off with no mention of Akaashi’s initial stress, although he does tell him to get some sleep, which seems a little hypocritical considering Ennoshita always looks exhausted. Still, Akaashi goes to bed earlier than usual, only delaying to make sure he can still remember Meiji dates after he’s cleaned his teeth. He can.

-

 _recommendations_  
  
Exams are over for Akaashi, easy in the end.  
  
He guesses Ennoshita’s finished too, but he’s not sure. He keeps meaning to contact him, but he can’t think of a good enough reason to start the conversation, now that there aren’t academics to compare. Which is fine, he tells himself, because it seems likely that they’ll see each other at training camp at some point in the future, and he can always revive their exchanges for the next batch of exams. They’ve only ever had a relationship in those contexts and so, Akaashi tells himself firmly, it’s ridiculous that he’s missing Ennoshita as much as he is.  
  
His phones goes off one night, the wrong side of midnight and he checks it languidly, then sits up embarrassingly fast when he sees Ennoshita’s name heading a message. They don’t really text, although they’ve exchanged numbers, and it’s oddly exhilarating to see his name there, stark and undeniable, hanging in the dark air of Akaashi’s room, asking if Akaashi’s seen some film he’s never heard of.  
  
Akaashi tells him he hasn’t, sends it, and frowns at the screen. It seems a little blunt. He follows it with a second message, asking what it’s about, just as a reply comes through from Ennoshita.  
  
_[sorry akaashi i meant to send this to someone else!!]_  
  
Oh.  
  
That makes sense, Akaashi thinks, and wonders why he thought anything else. He takes a few moments before he composes a reply, not wanting this inexplicable disappointment to sour what he says, but before he can type anything, another text arrives.  
  
_[if you’re interested though you should definitely watch it i can imagine you really enjoying it]_ it reads. And then there’s a considerable synopsis.  
  
Akaashi’s still reading this when another text arrives, and Ennoshita’s sent him a whole list of films he thinks might appeal. He makes a silent note to himself to keep Sunday free, so he can watch them.

-

 _an invitation_  
  
By the time Ennoshita asks if he’d like to visit him in Miyagi, Akaashi has fully reconciled himself with the idea he likes him. Akaashi refuses to use the word crush, ruling it juvenile, but it’s probably accurate.  
  
Spring has started to blossom, beginning as the school year ends, and they’re talking every day.  
  
Films were the start and they’re still a common feature. Ennoshita likes films a lot - he watches them like other people sleep: mostly at night and as a necessity to function normally. Akaashi knows little about the subject, but he’s finding it’s worth listening anyway. This is partly because he’s learning, but mostly because of the way Ennoshita’s face opens up when he talks about them. He casts off the slightly haggard look, he glows. This is item number six on the list of things Akaashi likes about Ennoshita.  
  
It’s a long list. It gets longer every time they talk.  
  
Akaashi knows when to take a hint.  
  
So yes. Akaashi likes Ennoshita, and that’s fine. It doesn’t tell him anything new about himself, and it’s easy to put aside when even their face-to-face conversations are separated by screens and more than two hundred miles. He can box up his feelings and not have to think about the repercussions of their escaping. Like the potential loss of a study partner, and the sole source of Akaashi’s developing film knowledge. And friend, of course, but Akaashi would rather think about rejection in practical, detached ways on the rare occasions he allows himself to do so.  
  
It’s easy to deal with, then, because that actual means not dealing with it at all. But then Ennoshita (blushing, just a little, with the same slight insecurity as he’d had when asking Akaashi for his email, unseen since) asks if Akaashi would like to visit, and Akaashi says yes, instantly, before he has a chance to compile the reasons that’s a terrible idea - although it really comes down to one: he has no idea how to act around Ennoshita when he feels like this.  
  
They arrange a date, a time. Akaashi frantically twists his hands together outside the webcam’s view.

-

 _a confession_  
  
Akaashi wants say that he doesn’t know how he ended up here. But he does, he can trace every step. It doesn't make the situation any less surreal.  
  
He’s sat opposite Ennoshita, who’s grinning at him, and Akaashi is smiling back, most of him is focused on that, on the way Ennoshita looks more awake, more alive than Akaashi’s ever seen him, and how their legs are pressed together and neither of them are moving them, of course, and the way the grey light looks warm when it catches in Ennoshita’s hair, and a hundred other details - Akaashi hasn’t worked out the exact number, which is telling.  
  
All this occupies the majority of his focus. But still, there’s some part of him desperately making calculations and correlations to work out what’s happening.  
  
Objectively, it goes like this:  
  
Ennoshita meets him at the station.  
  
It doesn’t go well, not at first. Akaashi is very aware of the necessity of not acting oddly and as a result, does just that. He's too coldly and then, in an attempt to correct that, too forthcoming. He agrees blindly with Ennoshita’s suggestions, but without enthusiasm. Ennoshita keeps glancing at him.  
  
It starts raining, fitting Akaashi’s increasingly troubled mood. The forecast hadn’t even predicted drizzle, so neither of them has an umbrella, and they have to run for cover, side by side.  
  
They find shelter, under the awning of a closed shop, but not before they are thoroughly drenched. Ennoshita’s hair is plastered to his forehead and Akaashi’s eyes keep getting drawn to droplets of water which proceed carefully down the curve of his cheek, whilst his fingers itch to brush them away.  
  
Neither of them speak for a while. Akaashi doesn’t know how long. Ennoshita watches the grey street, the occasional flashes of colour as people hurry by. Akaashi tries not to watch Ennoshita.  
  
Akaashi is generally happy not to talk, even when he has some concept of what to say, so it’s Ennoshita who breaks the silence. "Uh,” he begins, nervously. In the moment before Ennoshita resumes speaking, Akaashi prepares a list of possible things he may realistically be about to say. Few of them are good. None of them are right. None of them conclude with Ennoshita reaching across to take Akaashi’s hand, and leaning closer.  
  
They leave the awning as the rain fades away to nothing, Everything looks new, and fresh. Everything is new. It’s still strange to Akaashi, this whole thing, Ennoshita holding his hand tight, like it’s an anchor. Ennoshita being close enough to touch at all. Odd.  
  
But that’s okay. Akaashi smiles at Ennoshita. Together they’re good at problem solving, they can find sense in even the hardest questions. Ennoshita smiles back. They will work it out.


End file.
